Issue 96 (December 2021, Volume 16, Number 6)

The last issue of The Japan Society Review in 2021 presents six reviews of books which focus on different aspects of Japan, from its history to anthropology and textile design. The first review covers Toward Creation of a New World History, the English translation of an academic monograph originally written in Japanese by Professor Haneda Masashi. This publication reflects on the discipline of World History from a Japanese perspective considering issues of methodology, transnationality, and Western centrism.

From the field of anthropology, this issue includes a review of An Affair with a Village by Professor Joy Hendry. As our reviewer Alice French points out, this book is “a heart-warming, funny, informative and highly personal love letter to Kurotsuchi, the small village in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu that Hendry first visited in 1975 to undertake a year of fieldwork during her time as a PhD student at Oxford University”.

Japanese literature is represented in this issue by the reviews of two books, Japan Stories by Jayne Joso and Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love by Murakami Haruki. Joso’s volume is a collection of short fiction, some of them illustrated, revolving around characters’ feelings and emotions, and combining realism with supernatural tones. Murakami’s book is the author’s personal homage to his favourite t-shirts including a selection of images of his collection with short essays that have been translated into English for the first time.

The December issue ends with reviews of a chef’s monograph, telling of the inspiration, traditions, and recipes behind the restaurant monk on the Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto, and a volume exploring the craft work of NUNO, one of Japan’s most innovative and respected textile design studios.

Contents

• Toward Creation of a New World History by Haneda Masashi
  
  
• An Affair with a Village by Joy Hendry
  
  
• Japan Stories by Jayne Joso
  
  
• Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love by Murakami Haruki
  
  
• monk: Light and Shadow on the Philosopher’s Path by Imai Yoshihiro
  
  
• NUNO: Visionary Japanese Textiles by Sudo Reiko

Contributors